Fishing tackle connection



Sept. 2, 1958 G.'F. BAHR 2,849,776

FISHING TACKLE CONNECTION Original Filed Jan. 21. 1954 INVENTOR MMATTORNEYS United States Patent This invention relates to swivel snapliookluiiitssuch ,as are .used in connecting a leader of a fb'aited hookor lure or other fishing appliance to a fishing line.

The application is a division of my copending appn tion Serial No.405,291, filed January 2 1, 1954, 'now :PatentN'o. 2,814,086.

'2 "offset hook portion which engages 'the underside of the car whichclinches it to the yoke :plate. Thus, loads applied to the yoke plate by"the hook-shaped end of the latch leg are transmitted in asubstantiallystraight 'line bythe keeper ear to the leg of the upper loop through thecar which clinches it to the yoke plate.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear. In theaccompanying drawings which illustrate several embodiments of thisinvention: Figure 1 is a' 'side elevation partly .in section showing theswivel snap hook'of'the present invention 'in which The type of snaphookto which'the present invention relates includes a spring wire bentto have an upper-and "lower loop, the standing part and leg ofthe upperloop portion being clinched to a yoke plate, and 'thele'g of the lowerloop portion being biased to spring clearof "the" yoke plate to receivethe looped'endof a fishing ap- "pliance. The leg is manually sprunginwardly into posi- "tion to be caught by a keeper ear onthe yoke plate.The

' upper end'of the unit including the-yoke plate and spring 'wire' unitis connected by a swiveling connection to a fishing line. 4 V

Heretofore, in order to avoid 'the'free or lateli leg of the spring wire'from being pulled longitudinaliy'from "under the keeper'ear, the lowerloop-was soformed thatits load-receiving portion was s'ub's tantially-infli'ne with the standing part of the wireywhich thusreceivedsubstan'tially all the load. The load being thusoffset laterally fromthe longitudinal axis of the unit, caused 'the'unit to wobble in userather than to rotate on its aids.

, A feature of the present invention isithe provision of a snap hook'inwhich the lower looplmaybUso formed that the load is appliedsubstantially on the longitudinal axis of the unit so that it isdistributed between the icstandingpart of the spring wire and the freeor latch leg thereof. This is accomplished by providing on the "end ofthelatch leg a laterally benthook porti'on posi- 'tioned to overlie theupper edge ofthe keeper'ear when the latch leg is in latched positionand prevent thejlatch leg from being withdrawn longitudinally fromtheikeeper ear. As-"aj result of this improvement, it is possible to"make the unit with wire of much smaller diameter and i with lessstifiness than was"heretofore possible, and this in turn permits themanufacture of snap'hook units "of extremely small dimensions. I V

Another feature of the present invention is the provision on the yokeplate of a headed lug 'rotatably'contained;

ithe'legsof both loops opposite the standing part of the [wire havelaterally bent hook portions .and the yoke plate has a headed lugconfined within the terminal spherical member ofua ball chain.

Fig. 2 isan edge view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the op posite-side of thedevice.

Fig. 4 shows aio'r-m of this invention which is like that shown in Fig.1, except that the leg of the upper 'l'oop'd'oes not have'the laterallyextending hook portion.

Fig. '5- is" a sectional "view taken on line 7--7 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 shows the spring wire used in the form of the inventionillustrated in Fig. 1 before it is assembled with "the hook plate.

To simplify the-explanation and understanding of the construction of thedevice of the present invention, the

parts will be described in reference to their positions 'in it will beunderstood that the terms upper and lower,

etc. are relative and are used for the convenience of fexplanation onlyand not'in a limiting sense, both in-t-he specification and in theappended claims.

As shown in the accompanying drawing, the swivel snap h'ook of thepresent invention comprises a spring wire .10 having a standing part 11,and a U-bend or loop '12 at its upperend having a downwardly extendin-gleg '13. 'At its lower end the wire '10 has aU-bend or loop 14 having anupwardly extending leg 15, which is formed to resiliently'stand out, asshown in Fig. 6, in aidivergent position in reference to the standingpart 11.

The wire 10 is straddled by a substantially flat sheet metal yoke plate16 having a lateral edge 17 rolled around and clinched to the standingpartll of the wire, and'at its .opposite edge an ear 18 rolled aroundand clinched to the depending leg 13 of the upperfloop '12.

The edge 17 and the ear 18 securely fasten the yoke plate a-.loopedmember on a leader, lure or other part of fishing gear'to impale thesame. When this has been done the leg 15 may be pressed manually towardthe yoke plate, to be caught or latched-back ofa keeper ear 19 on the.yoke plate, which thus closesthe lower loop 14.

against the removal of the fishing gear. The leg 15 thus serves as alatch. I

Heretofore, the lower loop of such snap .hooks has been shaped to have amore or less triangular form with the-apex of the triangle, that is, thelowermost or loadvreceiving part of the loop, close to the standingpart, so

thatthe'load imparted to the snap hook by the loop on the dishing gearwas applied almost entirely to the standing part. But, the strain on theloop being thus offcenter, causes the snap hook to wobble rather thanrotate freely on its longitudinal axis when being drawn through thewater as in trolling.

However, according to the present invention, the lower loop may be soformed that its load-receiving point may be on or close to thelongitudinal axis of the device. For instance, the lower loop 14 may besubstantially semicircular as shown in the drawings. This would applypart of the load to the standing part 11 and part to the latch leg 15,which would tend under a heavy load to pull the latch leg longitudinallyfrom under the keeper car 19. According to the present invention, thisis avoided by forming the leg 15 so that its end is bent laterally toform a hook which is so positioned relative to the keeper car 19 as toengage the upper edge thereof when load is applied to the latch leg andthus prevent the latter from pulling out longitudinally from under thekeeper ear.

The latch leg 15 thus being positively prevented from escaping fromunder the car 19, it is possible to use lighter gauge wire to form thesnap hook and this in turn makes it possible to make the snap hooks invery small sizes. For instance, a swivel snap hook constructed as shownin Fig. 4, having a length from the center of the ring which receivesthe fishing line to the bottom of the loop 14 of approximately of aninch, has been successfully manufactured and used, the wire being .019inch in diameter and measuring from loop to loop 2 of an inch.

To connect the fishing line to the snap hook so that it may freelyswivel, the wire 10 is connected to a ball chain 21 terminating in aloop member 22 to which the fishing line is attached.

As shown in Figs. l-3 and 4, this is accomplished in a most economicaland advantageous manner by making the yoke plate 16 so that it has atits upper edge a lug 23 provided with an enlarged head 24 shaped to fitin a hollow spherical member 25 for free rotation which may,

and preferably is, the lower or terminal ball of the ball chain 21. Thehollow sphere 25 encloses both the head 24 of the lug 23 and a head 26of the adjacent dumbbell unit 27 forming a part of the chain when swagedto shape in the manner of making ball-type chains. The upper end of theyoke plate has an offset bend 28, see Fig. 2, so as to position the wire10 in alignment with the axis of the sphere 25. l i

To transmit strain applied to the yoke plate 16 through the ball chainto the fishing line, the edge 17 and the ear 18 of the yoke plate isfirmly clinched around the standing part 11 and the leg 13 of the wireas shown in Fig. 5, and this is sufiicient-if the metal of the yokeplate is heavy and stifi enough.

However, in some situations it is advantageous to provide the dependingleg 13 of the upper loop 12 with a laterally extending portion forming ahook 29 which is positioned to engage the bottom edge of the ear 18 asshown in Fig. 1 so that the hook 29 receives any strain, applied to theyoke plate by the wire 14) under load,

which would tend to cause distortion of the yoke plate or cause it toshift its position relative to the wire.

Where the clinching of the .wire by the yoke is suificient, the gauge ofthe material used and the possible loads being taken into consideration,the hook on the end of the leg 13 may be omitted as shown in Fig. 4.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claimsand portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. In a fishing tackle having a Snap hook unit comprising a spring wireformed to have a standing part, U bends at each end of the standing partforming upper and lower loops respectively with the upper loophaving adownwardly extending leg and the lower loop having an upwardlyextending, outwardly sprung latch leg; a yoke plate having a portionclinched over the standing part of the wire, an edge portion clinchedover the downwardly extending leg of the upper loop, and a keeper earreleasably holding the latch leg when the latter is sprung behind it toretain a loop of fishing equipment hooked onto said latch leg; and meansfor connecting the unit to a fishing line: the improvement comprisingthe lower loop having its load-receiving point substantially on thevertical medial line of the unit whereby the load is distributed betweenthe latch leg and the standing part, and the latch leg having alaterally extending end portion overlying the keeper ear at the upperedge thereof to prevent the latch leg from being pulled longitudinallyfree from the keeper ear when load is applied to the lower loop of thewire, a formed spherical member forming part of .the means forconnecting the unit to a fishing line, and

said yoke plate having a lug having a head shaped to be enclosed by saidspherical member for rotation therein.

2. In a fishing tackle having a snap hook unit comprising a spring wireformed to have a standing part, U- bends at each end of the standingpart forming upper and lower loops respectively with the upper loophaving a downwardly extending leg and the lower loop having an upwardlyextending, outwardly sprung latch leg; a yoke plate having a portionclinched over the standing part of the wire, an edge portion clinchedover the downwardly extending leg of the upper loop, and a keeper earreleasably holding the latch leg when the latter is sprung behind it toretain a loop of fishing equipment hooked onto said latch leg; and meansfor connecting the unit to a fishing line: the improvement comprisingthe lower I loop having its load-receiving point substantially on thevertical medial line of the unit whereby the load is distributed betweenthe latch leg and the standing part, and the latch leg having alaterally extending end portion overlying the .keeper ear at the upperedge thereof to prevent the latch leg from being pulled longitudinallyfree from the keeper car when load is applied to the lower loop of thewire, the lower end of the downwardly extending upper leg having alaterally. extending hook por-.

" wardly extending leg and the lower loop having an upwardly extending,outwardly sprung latch leg, a fiat yoke plate having an edge portionbent around and clinched over the standing part of the wire, an oppositeedge portion clinched over the downwardly extending leg of the upperloop, and a keeper ear spaced from said opposite edge clinched portionreleasably holding the latch leg when the latter is sprung behind it toretain looped fishing equipment hooked onto said latch leg, and meansfor connecting the unit to a fishing line: the improvement comprisingthe latch leg having a laterally extending end portion overlying thekeeper ear at the upper edge thereof to prevent the latch leg from beingpulled longitudinally free from the keeper ear.

4. In a snap hook unit for fishing tackle having a bent spring wireincluding a latch leg biased to open position, a yoke plate secured tothe spring wire and including a keeper for the latch leg, and means forconnecting the unit to a fishing line comprising a hollow sphericalmember and a lug on said yoke plate having a head shaped to be enclosedby said spherical member for rotation therein,

5. In a snap hook unit for fishing tackle having a bent spring wireincluding a latch leg biased to open position, a yoke plate secured tothe spring wire and including'a keeper for the latch leg, and means forconnecting the unit to a fishing line comprising a hollow sphericalmember and a lug on said yoke plate having a head shaped to' be enclosedby said spherical member for rotation therein, said means for connectingthe unit to a fishing line also including a ball-type chain having adumbbell unit extending into said spherical member diametricallyopposite said lug head and having a head i rotatably enclosed by saidspherical member.

6. In a snap hook unit for fishing tackle having a latch member, a yokeplate secured to the latch member, and means for connecting the unit toa fishing line com prising a hollow spherical member and a lug on saidyoke plate having a head shaped to be rotatably enclosed by saidspherical member for rotation therein, said means for connecting theunit to a fishing line also including a ball-type chain having adumbbell unit extending into said spherical member diametricallyopposite said lug head and having a head rotatably enclosed by saidspherical member.

No references cited.

